Qi Zhiheng met his gaze and asked, "What are you trying to say?"

Yang Yitian said, "You know that you should hand over the treasure to the sect leader in front of everyone. If these insects have treasures, they will definitely be delivered to the leader when so many insects have seen them."

Qi Zhiheng somewhat understood his thoughts: "You want to send treasures to these insects?"

“Right! If we throw out something with strong spiritual energy, they will definitely hand it over to the leader.” Yang Yitian revealed a sly smile.

Qi Zhiheng agreed with him and decided to throw something with spiritual energy out to the group of insects.

The two observed the situation outside, and Yang Yitian asked, "Should we throw something out?"

Qi Zhiheng took out a low-grade spirit stone: "This one will do."

Looking at the small spirit stone, Yang Yitian said with some difficulty, "Isn't this a bit too shabby?" A low-grade spirit stone? He could easily draw more than this many spirit stones for a single talisman.

Qi Zhiheng expressed his dissatisfaction with his comment about being poor: "What do you mean by poor? Look at the outside world, what spiritual creatures are there? These insects haven't eaten anything with spiritual energy for who knows how many years. They can be easily fed a spirit stone. Look at those people who have been starving for days. Give them an ordinary steamed bun and they'll eat it like it's spiritual food."

Yang Yitian nodded blankly and said, "What you said makes sense. If we want to raise insects in the future, it will probably cost spirit stones. Let's save as much as we can now."

Qi Zhiheng: "..."

Yang Yitian said, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Thank you for reminding me that I have another money-burning thing now..." Qi Zhiheng was somewhat resigned to his fate. Maintaining the space already cost a lot of spirit stones. If he were to raise a large number of insects, how many spirit stones would he need to earn to cover his expenses?

The thought of this made him want to back down. It wasn't that he didn't want those awesome Devouring Worms, but he also had to consider the actual situation. He was really poor!

Yang Yitian disagreed: "These spirit-devouring insects have been starving for so long. We don't necessarily have to feed them properly after we get them. We can feed them occasionally, more when we have spare money, and less when we don't."

“That makes sense. Let’s give it a try.” Qi Zhiheng threw the low-grade spirit stone out of his spatial dimension and observed the development of the situation outside.

Just as the Spirit-Devouring Insect was waiting to offer the spirit stone to the Insect King, the spirit stone was quickly devoured by the Sky-Devouring Insect...

Qi Zhiheng: "..."

Yang Yitian: "..."

Yang Yitian coughed lightly and said in a stiff tone, "Look at you, so stingy. People don't even care about low-grade spirit stones. You should give them something better!"

Qi Zhiheng choked for a moment, thinking to himself, "If you really had any opinions, you should have said them sooner!"

Yang Yitian said matter-of-factly, "Look, when we went to the secret realm with the sect leader, if we found something we didn't like, we certainly wouldn't have to hand it over!"

Qi Zhiheng sighed and said, "You're right." Then he took out a mid-grade spirit stone and threw it out.

Then, the mid-grade spirit stones were quickly consumed.

Qi Zhiheng gritted his teeth and threw out another high-grade spirit stone.

Fortunately, this time it worked. The spirit stone wasn't immediately devoured, but instead slid up and was transported in one direction.

Qi Zhiheng was a little nervous, but it worked!

The spirit stone slowly moved in one direction. At this moment, the insect king hidden in the swarm crawled out. This mutated spirit-devouring insect king was not much different from the ordinary spirit-devouring insects. They were both black. The only difference was that it was larger than the ordinary spirit-devouring insects. This spirit-devouring insect king was about three times the size of an ordinary spirit-devouring insect.

Having found the insect king, we need to consider our next steps, such as how to subdue it.

Qi Zhiheng turned around and left the space. He turned his hand seals and imprinted the soul power mark on the Soul Devouring Insect King, so that he could mark the location of the Insect King at any time.

The next step is to get close to this insect king and apply the contract to it at close range!

These Soul-Devouring Insects are quite powerful. Among them are Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, while the Insect King is a Golden Core stage cultivator. If there were only one Insect King, Qi Zhiheng would not be afraid even if there were several Golden Core stage leaders. However, the situation before him is not as simple as just a few Golden Core stage cultivators.

Qi Zhiheng gritted his teeth and made a decision.

He floated to the door of the room, cast a few spells to knock the spirit-devouring insects off the door, and then opened the door.

There was a long corridor outside the door, and it was obvious that there were other rooms elsewhere.

He took out several low-grade crystals and threw them fiercely in one direction of the corridor.

Not having caught a whiff of the spirit stone, the spirit-devouring insects quickly rushed towards the door, chasing after the scent of the punishment crystal.

Just as he had guessed, some of the Soul-Devouring Insects did not chase after them, but instead stayed by the side of the Soul-Devouring Insect King, who did not move immediately.

The Soul-Devouring Insects had lived in this room for a long time and had not encountered any other dangerous enemies, which had weakened their vigilance. That's why they completely disregarded the Soul-Devouring Insect King and rushed out in such large numbers.

Qi Zhiheng approached the Insect King step by step, using his soul power to suppress the remaining Soul Devouring Insects, but he soon discovered that his soul power soldiers were being rapidly devoured!

These Soul-Eating Insects are indeed dangerous!

With a thought, Qi Zhiheng threw several more mid-grade spirit stones into the swarm of spirit-devouring insects where the spirit-devouring insect king was located. The spirit-devouring insects quickly gave up on devouring Qi Zhiheng's soul power and turned to throw the spirit stones at them.

The Soul-Devouring Insect King seized a mid-grade spirit stone and devoured it rapidly.

While they were eating, Qi Zhiheng bit his finger and drew a contract symbol in the air, then pushed it toward the location of the Soul-Devouring Insect King.

Qi Zhiheng didn't expect to succeed on the first try. He thought he would try several times and eventually succeed.

In a moment of distraction, Qi Zhiheng felt a soul force connecting with his own!

Contract successful!

Qi Zhiheng's eyes widened. What incredible luck he had! To hit the mark on the first try?

He looked at the small group of spirit-devouring insects on the ground and found their king.

After confirming that it was not a contract error and that it was indeed the Soul-Devouring Insect King, Qi Zhiheng used his soul power to contact it and attempted to communicate with it.

—The Insect King?

—Are you my contractor?

—Yes, it has now become my spirit pet and will obey my commands from now on.

—If I obey your command, are there still spirit stones left to eat?

Qi Zhiheng was stunned for a moment when he heard what the other party said. The Soul-Devouring Insect King, which could even devour soul power, was actually asking him for spirit stones.

Fortunately, I had made some preparations for Qi Zhiheng. Although I felt a little sorry for the spirit stones, since the contract had already been successfully formed, he would naturally not treat his subordinates unfairly.

Therefore, Qi Zhiheng responded to the Insect King.

—It's that kind of spirit stone we used to eat. I can give you five of them every day, but your other subordinates don't get such good treatment.

—That won't do. You also need to prepare one for one of my subordinates. I promised it that as long as it signs a contract with you, I will give it half of the spirit stones you give me.

Qi Zhiheng gleaned some meaning from these words.

—You could have dodged that, right? Why didn't you dodge, and instead made me make a contract?

—Because Erhei said you have spirit stones. You've been in this godforsaken place for many years, and most of the food here has been eaten. If you can't find food soon, it will be hard to survive the next evolution.

Who is Erhei?

—It's not the bug next to me; it's very clever and can give me a lot of ideas.

Qi Zhiheng thought to himself: Could it be that even the Soul-Devouring Insects have a cunning strategist?

—What is a strategist?

Huh? Qi Zhiheng's wandering thoughts were pulled back again, as the Soul Devouring Insect King's connection soul power was transmitted over again.

Are you wondering how I knew?

Qi Zhiheng didn't hide it; it was indeed true.

—You haven't blocked me from what you're thinking, so of course I know.

I see!

—Human, you haven't even said what kind of strategist you are yet.

—An ordinary strategist is a person with great wisdom, and the dog-headed strategist in your Soul-Devouring Insects is an insect with great wisdom.

Qi Zhiheng gave a casual remark, and with the hint from the Soul-Devouring Insect King earlier, he blocked the other party.

The Soul-Eating Insect paused for a moment and exchanged something with the Soul-Eating Insect next to it.

—My strategist told me to tell you, thank you for the compliment.

Qi Zhiheng: "..." This makes me feel rather embarrassed.

—So when I was in Qinyuan, you didn't resist at all, not because your cunning strategist said I had spirit stones.

—That's right, you'll take care of us from now on, right?

Qi Zhiheng thought to himself, "Spending a few dozen low-grade spirit stones every day isn't out of the question." So he agreed!

After Qi Zhiheng replied with the Soul-Devouring Insect, he felt the joy from the other party.

Qi Zhiheng thought with some emotion: These rural spirit-devouring insects are really simple and honest. A few dozen spirit stones are enough to satisfy them. There can't be any spirit beasts that are so easy to take care of.

Qi Zhiheng felt that this place was no longer convenient to stay; he needed to explore other areas. So, he instructed the Soul-Devouring Insect King to summon back the Soul-Devouring Insects that had just run away. "I'm about to depart; call all my subordinates back."

The Soul-Devouring Insect King hesitated.

—Can I leave my current subordinates behind and give me all the spirit stones meant for them?

Qi Zhiheng was stunned when he heard this request! To abandon his subordinates for a few spirit stones? This approach seemed inappropriate.

Moreover, what Qi Zhiheng really wanted was this group of subordinates! If he abandoned them all, how could he raise the Devouring Insects?

Qi Zhiheng sternly rejected the Soul-Devouring Insect King's request.